Sam Winchester stared at the demon in front of him in frustration. He was concentrating as hard as he could, but nothing was happening. The demon snickered. "Performance issues, Sammy? I thought that was only supposed to happen in older men."

Sam wanted to just walk away, but he knew he couldn't do that. Not when it was his brother sitting tied to a chair inside a devil's trap. He couldn't leave when that familiar face looking at him, only with black eyes instead of their normal greenish color. He couldn't go when it was Dean looking up at him. Dean who had always watched over him and protected him. There was no way Sam was going to abandon his brother.

But he was running out of options. He had tried exorcism spells from every country and culture he could think of. He force fed the demon holy water and salt. And even though the real Dean would hate it, Sam even hunted down a random demon and drank its blood to attempt exorcising Dean's demon with his demonic powers.

That had been months ago at this point, and Sam wasn't sure that he could take it anymore. The black-eyed abomination insisted that he was still Dean, and that he wasn't possessed, and he was simply a demon now. But Sam couldn't accept that. He couldn't accept that after all their time together, the hunt would be over. Because there was no way that Sam would kill his brother, even if he knew how. And there's no way that he would be able to keep hunting monsters knowing that there was one in the hidden area behind the shelves in the bunker.

The demon chuckled, sensing Sam's discomfort. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sam was too tired to even listen. He left the secret alcove and closed the door behind him. He had to get out of there, out of the bunker, out of the place where nothing made sense anymore.

He left, making sure all the security protocols were in place before exiting, and walked to the Impala. Seeing Dean's baby was heart breaking, knowing that Dean would probably never see the precious car that had gone through so much with them ever again. The car that Dean had picked out for their father back in the seventies'.

Sam got into his own car, and drove into town. He parked outside the local diner, and went inside. He slid into a booth out of habit, almost expecting Dean to slide into the seat across from him. He should have known better, though.

There was a newspaper lying on the table, and Sam picked it up with the pretense of looking at it. He wasn't sure that he would actually be able to handle a hunt, even if he happened to find one.

The paper was recent, from just yesterday, and he flipped through quickly, but nothing caught his attention. When the waitress came over to his table, he refolded the paper and put it back down. The waitress snapped a bubble from her gum with a bored look. She was holding a pencil and pad. "Can I get you anything?"

Sam sighed. "Uh… yeah, just some coffee for now, thanks." He tried to smile, but could only imagine how horrifying he must look with all his bruises and scars. The waitress shrugs, and heads back to the kitchen.

Sam glanced down at the back of the paper he had put down, and his eyes were drawn to a small box under the personals section. He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. There were no such thing as coincidences in his world, so there was no reason to believe that the ad was a coincidence.

He picked up the paper after scanning the words quickly to go over them more clearly in his head. S.W. or C- I am in urgent need of your help. If you assist me, I can grant you any one miracle that you wish. Go to where Michael first found his 'sword' and you will be able to begin your search for me from there. Please, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate. But don't breath a word to D.W. or J.N., they can't be trusted.

S.W. had to be Sam Winchester, and D.W. Dean Winchester. But who was the C and J.N? And how would the untrustworthy two be kept out if their initials were right in the paper? Sam thought back to when Dean first discovered that he was the archangel Michael's vessel, in the storage unit that their father had rented out a long time ago. But there was no name in the signature spot, and nothing that made him believe it was a real S.O.S message.

But either way, Sam was going to check it out. He wasn't going to pass off anything that had even the tiniest chance of giving him a miracle, because a miracle would mean getting Dean back, the real Dean.

Sam smiled charmingly at the woman behind the desk, and wasn't disappointed when his grin elicited a blush from her. He pulled out a badge, fake of course, and let her take it to inspect. When she seemed satisfied, she handed it back, and Sam slipped it back into the pocket he always kept it in. The woman smiled. "So, how can I help you, Agent Baron?"

"I was wondering if you keep records of all the people who send in personal ads to be published?"

The woman nodded. "Of course. Which ad are you trying to find the author of?"

Sam pulled out the piece that he had clipped from the newspaper and handed it to the secretary. "Anything you have that will help me find the person who sent this in would be a big help." She took the paper and glanced at the article before looking down and tapping away on her keyboard.

She frowned after a minute, and looked back up. "That's so strange. There's no record of this article ever being sent in, or published. But there's no sign that the information was erased. It's like someone snuck in and stuck it in the layout before anyone would notice. Why…?"

Sam gave her his funny little half smile, and reached over to take the article back. "Sorry, I have to go."

He left the newspaper office, and took a deep breath. It's not like Dean would starve as a demon, so he decided on an impromptu road trip to upstate New York.